NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Bulldogs play their first game in a month
in the friendly confines of the John J. Lee Amphitheater on
Thursday night. New Haven city foe Albertus Magnus visits for a 7
p.m. tipoff. The Falcons feature 12 Connecticut natives on their
roster. Yale's one Connecticut resident, Greg Mangano, made his
first career start in Tuesday's game with Lehigh and responded in a
big way. He scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to post his
first career double-double. In addition, he blocked three shots and
now has nine blocks in the last two games. Yale played Tuesday's
game without leading scorer Alex Zampier, who sprained his ankle in
practice. Junior Michael Sands and freshman Austin Morgan helped
fill the scoring void created by Zampier's absence. Sands had 15
points, which matched his career high, while Morgan, who was making
his first career start, scored 14 points, the most of his young
career. The Bulldogs will be playing their third game in the last
five days. They host NJIT on Saturday at 2 p.m. before opening Ivy
play next Friday against Brown.

HISTORY LESSONS

Yale and Albertus Magnus are playing for the first time.

SCOUTING ALBERTUS MAGNUS

Albertus, which plays at Trinity on Wednesday, won six of its
first seven games. The Falcons were off from Dec. 12 until the game
with Trinity. Albertus, which averages nearly 84 points per game,
has three double figure scorers, led by Walden St. Juste (21.1
ppg.). Ray Askew (19.3 ppg.) and Byron Reaves (11.1 ppg.) are the
others. Askew leads the team in rebounding (11.1 rpg.). Twelve of
the 14 players on the roster are Connecticut natives. Mitch Oliver
is in his third year as the head coach of the Falcons. He has been
an assistant coach at both Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart.

BULLDOGS PICKED 5TH IN PRESEASON IVY
POLLThe Bulldogs were picked to finish fifth in the Ivy
League preseason media poll, released on Oct. 28 during a media
teleconference. Yale has finished higher than projected in three of
the last four years. Two-time defending champion Cornell is the
overwhelming favorite. The Big Red received all 16 first-place
votes. Princeton is second followed by Penn and Harvard. Columbia
(sixth), Brown and Dartmouth round out the poll. The Bulldogs, who
finished in a tie for second place with Princeton last year, lose
four starters but return Alex Zampier, an honorable mention All-Ivy
selection. Zampier led the Ivy League in free throw percentage
(.848) and was eighth in scoring (13.2 ppg.) and second in steals
(1.6 per game). In addition, Yale welcomes back four other players
who averaged at least 10 minutes per game.

The state of Connecticut has a rich basketball tradition. A new
chapter in that history starts this season with the formation of
the Connecticut 6, a partnership between six of Connecticut's
Division I schools - Yale, Central Connecticut, Fairfield,
Hartford, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart. The inaugural Connecticut 6
Classic tripleheader was Nov. 13 at the Arena at Harbor Yard. The
Classic moves to the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville in 2010. In
addition to the tripleheader, a preseason All-Connecticut 6 team
was selected and there will be a Connecticut 6 Player of the Week
chosen each week during the season.

SNYDER-FAIR JOINS YALE STAFF

Jamie Snyder-Fair, who helped Washington & Lee make its
first appearance in the ODAC championship game in 20 years last
year, has joined James Jones' staff. In his one season at W&L,
the Generals won 16 games, their most since 1988-89. Prior to
Washington & Lee, Snyder-Fair was an assistant coach at Vassar
where he helped the Brewers to 18 wins, which tied the school
record. He also spent two years as an assistant at Amherst.

HEAD COACH JAMES JONES

James Jones has made quite an impact on the Yale
basketball program. In 10 seasons, Jones has guided Yale to success
not seen in New Haven in 40 years. In 2001-02, Jones led the
Bulldogs to their first Ivy League title since 1962-63 and the
first postseason tournament victory in the 107-year history of Yale
basketball. The team won 21 games, the second most in the modern
era of Yale basketball, and reached the second round of the
National Invitation Tournament. Jones, the longest tenured coach in
the Ivy League, earned his 100th victory at Yale when the Bulldogs
beat Columbia on Feb. 9, 2007. He is only the fourth coach in
school history with at least 100 wins. His overall record at Yale
is 130-149, including a 77-63 (.550) mark in Ivy games. The
Bulldogs have won at least 10 Ivy games twice during his tenure and
have had a .500 or better record in league play in each of the last
nine years. Three assistant coaches who worked under Jones have
gone on to become head coaches - Isaiah Cavaco (Oberlin), Mark
Sembrowich (Academy of Arts University) and Mark Gilbride
(Clarkson).Jones served as an assistant coach to Villanova's Jay
Wright for the 2007 USA Basketball Men's Pan American Games Team.

• The 2009-10 schedule features 31 regular season games,
including 12 in the friendly confines of the John J. Lee
Amphitheater. It will mark the most games Yale has played in a
season since 2001-02 when the Bulldogs finished 21-11.

• The Bulldogs made their second appearance in the
Preseason NIT. Yale fell to No. 1 ranked UConn in the tournament to
open the 2003-04 season. The Bulldogs played four games in this
year's tournament.

• The game with Quinnipiac on Nov. 21 capped a busy day on
the Yale campus. The 126th edition of the Yale-Harvard football
game was played at noon at Yale Bowl. Yale and Quinnipiac had met
only once before, an 87-69 Bobcat win in 1999 in the Phoenix
Classic at the Hartford Civic Center.

• Senior Alex Zampier had a homecoming when the Bulldogs
visited Albany on Jan. 3. Zampier, an East Greenbush, N.Y., native,
graduated as the second all-time leading scorer at Columbia High
School with 1,381 points. Yale head coach James Jones is a 1996
Albany graduate. He played for and coached with the legendary Dr.
Richard Sauers, one of only seven coaches to win more than 700
games.

• The Bulldogs open the 14-game Ivy League schedule at home
against Brown on Jan. 15. Three of Yale's first four Ivy games will
be at Lee Amphitheater.